Archive for the ‘Warhammer Fantasy’ Category

How to Use Fast Cavalry

by MunchChomp - August 24th, 2009

I was surfing the net earlier (was checking my Worldwide Warhammer Ranking) and noticed that some of you philistines were asking about Fast Cavalry and how to use them. Well, I’ve managed to carve out a little time in between my workout sessions, Fantasy tournaments, and nightclubbing to put together some advice for you nooblets. You’re welcome.

My first and most important lesson for you is redirecting with Fast Cavalry. The first question that should have entered your tiny brains is: why use Fast Cavalry for redirecting?

Answer:

  • Fast Cavalry are (you guessed it) fast. This includes their ability to Reform as often as they want during their normal movement. These ‘free’ Reforms can be used to create disadvantageous angles for your opponent’s units.
  • They have Feigned Flight. This means that they can rally after voluntarily choosing to Flee from an enemy charge and move as normal in their following turn.
  • They’re usually cheap. If something goes wrong, you can afford to lose them.

Just look at this:

FC1

The yellow unit of Fast Cavalry have placed themselves in front of a problematic enemy unit. They do this because they want to both slow down the blue unit AND change their facing. Also note that if the blue unit wanted to charge something they now cannot, and are left with the option of charging the Fast Cavalry (diverting them) or sitting still.

FC2

Our blue unit has chosen to charge their harassers. Of course, the yellow (bellied) unit chooses to flee, so they are moved first. They must be moved in a line relative to the center of both units.

FC3

The charging unit must move towards their target. They don’t reach them with their short movement, so shuffle forward at half their charge distance.

As with most brilliant tactical maneuvers, there are risks involved:

The unit of Fast Cavalry may be caught by their chargers. In reality, this only happens if the Fast Cavalry roll abysmally low for their flight move. Due to the fact that in the glorious 7th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy fleeing units are pivoted on the spot and then moved, the distance between units can be exaggerated when the pursuing unit is forced to wheel towards the fleeing unit.

Panic! The fleeing Fast Cavalry unit could cause Panic in friendly units given its Unit Strength of > 5. This is easy to circumvent most of the time, just plan for the flight path of the redirecting unit.

And if that wasn’t enough for you, this is how you redirect an enemy unit to turn a bad situation into a good one!

In this highly hypothetical situation, I’ve added another nice yellow unit. They are men holding pointy sticks that don’t like to get charged.

FC4

Our brave unit of Fast Cavalry has jumped in the way of the menacing blue unit before it crashes into its target. Wheeling around the unit of Fast Cavalry will take up too much of their movement during a charge, forcing them to take another line of action.

FC5
FC6

The blue unit charges the yellow Fast Cav, wheeling towards them as before. The extended shadowy zone shows where the unit would continue had they moved their full charge distance. This is important to know, because if the unit of yellow infantry were in this area, the blue unit could have declared Enemy in the Way on them and charged them as well.

FC7

Thanks to careful planning, the blue unit cannot reach either of their targets, and so is stuck in the open. They have also left their flank open to the yellow infantry. Success!

Obviously, this situation isn’t entirely realistic, but it does show how you can actually use your brain and the longwinded movement rules for Fantasy (as opposed to the ‘move wherever within 6″ rule’) to outplay your opponent. It’s a great answer to your enemy’s hammer units that rely on getting into combat earn their keep. Although this stuff may seem simple, only the better players actually manage to pull these kinds of moves off successfully with any consistency.

If the two of you that read this out there (hi mom!) want more of this kind of stuff, let me know. I can show off other nifty tactics like the ‘Skirmish Skedaddle’ and the ‘Hated Hold’ as well as ways to defeat them in future posts.

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Posted in Tactics, Warhammer Fantasy | 4 Comments »

Cutting Trees

by Ted Royston - July 29th, 2009

In my last article, I wrote in detail on the various options available to a Wood Elf player and how to use them to make an ass kicking army. I’ve probably inspired a few amongst you to pick up Wood Elves since then, after all, it was a really good article. What’s worse is that I might have inspired one of your friends or a member of your European Style Gaming Club (more on that later) to start a Wood Elf army. If that’s the case, you’re probably yelling, “how the fuck do I stop these half naked, pointy eared pedos and their naked wooden girlfriends from kicking my balls in?”

fry-stress

If you’re yelling that or something similar, this is the article for you. If you’re playing your own Wood Elf army, you should still read this but deny its existence to any of your friends (or club members). Unlike my last article which gave you a unit by unit rundown, this one is much more general in its scope. There’s two reasons for that. One, I don’t know every trick up every sleeve in the Old World. There’s definitely going to be some guaranteed Wood Elf-killing combo I overlook. Two, GW’s release schedule means that the power balance between different armies is always changing. What I say about Skaven may change in six months. What I say about Tomb Kings may change in a year.

Instead, I’m going to give you a look at the Wood Elves’ weaknesses and let you devise specific schemes to take advantage of them. I’ll mention specific units here and there for example’s sake, but that’s not necessarily a suggestion. Basically what I’m saying is if your Grail Knights end up being slaughtered by some Dryads, don’t call me a faggot. You’re the one who blew the rolls.

So now that I’ve hemmed and hawed and made my little disclaimer, let’s get down to the business of talking about how to fuck up Wood Elves. Let’s start with an overview of how armies interact on the table.

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Tree Hugging

by Ted Royston - July 24th, 2009

Wardancer

The first Fantasy Battles mini I ever bought was a Wood Elf Wardancer. That was back in ‘91, and I’ve been playing them ever since. I’ve had my dalliances with other armies: Orcs & Goblins, Dwarfs, Bretonnians, and I’ll admit I’ve always wanted to put together a nasty Clan Pestilens horde. But I always go back to my Woodies, and Games Workshop helps me along by making them one of the best armies in the game.

It’s appropriate that The Patriot is playing as I sit down to type this. Not because of any joke conflating the Crown’s taxation offenses with GW’s ever climbing prices, but because the film’s battle scenes focus skirmishing irregulars making a joke of rigidly organized battle lines.

Like the “Indian” fighting revolutionaries depicted in that movie, the Wood Elves don’t play by the rules. They don’t maneuver around in large static blocks. They don’t win a fight by piling ranks on banners for combat resolution. There’s not a warmachine or suit of heavy armor to be found in their list. Their basic melee infantry are skirmishers. Their shock cavalry are fast cavalry. Their missile troops work better when you move them. Beyond a statblock shared with the other Elf armies, the Wood Elves have nothing in common with any other army.

Wood Elves win battles by exploiting the tremendous difference between their playstyle and that of more staid Warhammer armies. That line of battle you work out with your Empire or High Elf army means nothing to a Wood Elf general, except as something to pull apart and destroy in pieces.

Whereas most armies work best when you run them like one giant machine, the Wood Elves function best when you think of them as flexible strike forces focused on destroying key parts of that machine. A Wood Elf army is flexible and mobile in ways that Empire and Greenskin players can only dream of. Dwarf and Undead players will gasp at how fast your army can move about the board. Even their cousins, the High and Dark Elves will have a tough time keeping up with a Wood Elf army.

When you look at the Wood Elf army list, you’ll see entry after entry that can move fast and strike hard. You’ll also notice an almost complete lack of armor saves, but that’s mitigated by the fact that you’ll be the one deciding when and where the fight happens.

But enough blathering; let’s take a look at the list, and see what it can do.

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Posted in Warhammer Fantasy | 6 Comments »